


Folly in the Forest Temple

by PseudoTwili



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Adventure, Forest Temple, Gen, Humor, Talo gets into trouble, sequence breaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2020-10-19 15:17:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20659340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PseudoTwili/pseuds/PseudoTwili
Summary: Adventures in sequence breaking! Or, when the characters notice strange and unexplainable things are going on… There's a strange shadowy girl who keeps popping up from Link's shadow, the monkeys are acting weird...oh, and Talo screams like a little girl.





	Folly in the Forest Temple

"Link, get me out of here!" Talo bellowed.

The young man whom he besought merely grunted as he landed another blow on the head of one of the guarding bokoblins. He dodged a clumsy swipe from the monster's badly-made club and drove his own wooden weapon through the cadaverous-like blue flesh. Then he turned and made quick work of the second bokoblin.

Talo, however, did not notice that his two captors were defeated. He continued to whimper and blubber until Link broke open the cage that confined both boy and monkey. Talo lifted his head, lowered his hands, and found himself staring up at the young man whom all the village children idolized.

"Gee, I knew you'd get them," he said, grinning at Link. "I was telling the monkey here about how you would."

He turned, expecting to see the monkey behind him, but instead she was scampering toward the huge old tree that housed some sort of temple. Link also turned to look; his brow furrowed as he watched the animal dart around as if she was searching for something.

Talo started after her. "Hey! Hey!"

The monkey paid the shouting boy no mind and scrambled atop the rocks that the monsters had used to block the entrance to the temple. In another moment she had found a gap small enough to squeeze through and disappeared into it.

"HEY!" Talo hollered again, as if he could compel her to come back by the sheer volume of his voice. "Get back here! Don't you run off on me again!"

Link, in turn, made a grab for the boy. "No, you get back here! You've caused enough trouble for today."

"But…!" Talo protested, wriggling in a grip as unyielding as the stubbornest of goats. "She's going to get away!"

"We're going back to the village," the young man insisted. "Everyone is probably worried sick about you. Your mother must be worried most of all!"

Talo crossed his arms, stuck out his lower lip and scrunched his nose. Even so, he ceased his struggles and Link loosened his hold, giving the boy the chance to comply with his command. Talo seized the opportunity as soon as it was upon him, springing away and scrabbling up the rocks and into the hole the monkey had used. Behind him, Link gave a shout and muttered something about confounded little boys who always repeated the same mistakes.

Talo managed to worm his way into the hole with as little trouble as the monkey had encountered; Link, however, being of more advanced height and overall width than his troublesome companion, was not so fortunate. The idea occurred to him that he could leave the boy to his own devices and come back with more manpower to help him remove the blockage, but with the monsters outside the temple, who knew what was inside. He gritted his teeth and growled a bit to himself. As much as he wanted to give Talo a good whack on the rear, he couldn't abandon him to a fate worse than the one from which he'd just rescued him.

Whistling to Epona, he mounted her and used her broad back to launch himself higher into the great old tree. From there he climbed up and around until he found a crevice through which he could fit. He could still hear Epona's nervous neighing, urging him to come back, as he eased himself into the darkness. His heart beat resounded in his ears in that close space and he tried not to breathe too deeply the deeply musty scent of the wood and bark which so surrounded him. He wished there was enough space to use his lantern, so he could better see as he climbed down that narrow space.

Then, without warning, there was suddenly nothing solid under his left foot. He scrabbled to keep hold, but the unexpected movement unbalanced him, and he fell, a sound torn from his throat. Thrusting out hands and feet to try and arrest his descent, he could tell the crevice he was in was widening a bit. He met the ground a split second later, all the breath leaving his lungs forcibly.

Picking himself up, he first checked to see that he had no broken bones, relieved when everything seemed to move as it should, though he was sure the sore spot on his elbow would later develop into a king-sized bruise. He could stand, only having the drop his head a bit to keep from running into the ceiling. The ground was slightly moist and smelled of soil and wood that the sun never touched. Reaching into his pouch, he extracted his lantern and lit it with fingers that shook a bit. Holding it aloft, he picked his way through the darkness.

He found Talo a scant minute later, as the boy was curled up in a dark, earthy corner with a couple of keese squawking at him. After soundly spanked the keese, Link crouched before the boy.

"G-gee, you did it again," Talo said, sniffling and climbing to his feet. "Thanks for saving me, Link."

"They were only keese," Link replied. "They don't usually bother you unless you're making noise or have a light with you."

"Ohh…" mumbled the boy, looking at the ground. "Anyway, can we look for the monkey now?"

"Talo…" the young man began warningly, his eyebrows furrowing again.

"Please!" he begged, his tone becoming woefully beseeching. "She's a really nice monkey. She stayed with me and that's why she got caught before. Can we just make sure she's okay?"

Link sighed, frowned and eyed the boy. "All right," he agreed at last.

"Yes!" Talo crowed as a toothy grin split his features.

"But!" Link continued, holding up his hand. He pointed a finger at Talo. "The moment you disobey me we'll leave this place. Is that understood?"

The excited boy nodded immediately. He reached for the lantern Link had set on the ground. "Can I carry this?" he asked.

"Sure, just don't swing it around or you might break it. You do that and we'll be in the dark again." The young man noticed the tears which were half dried in the grime of Talo's face. It wasn't just the keese that had frightened him.

"I'll be real careful, I promise!" Talo tried to assure him.

Link was tempted to roll his eyes as he took out his wooden weapon, holding it ready in the event of another monster encounter. Talo eyed the sword greedily, but Link cut him off before he could pose the question that was bound to come.

"No, you cannot have my sword. You'd probably kill me with it instead of any monsters," he remarked dryly.

"I wouldn't!" Talo shouted and shook his hands, seemingly forgetting his promise from a few moments before.

"Not on purpose," Link amended, steadying the madly swaying lantern. "I meant you'd probably get mixed up and hit me by mistake." He chose not to mention how frazzled Talo was apt to get in a hairy situation.

The boy sulked over that bit of truth as they found their way through a short, wooden tunnel. Emerging from the darkness, they reached some lights burning along what seemed a sort of pathway. They heard some familiar sounds too, which led them to an equally familiar sight. A bokoblin was guarding a cage that contained a cowering monkey with pink flower tucked behind one ear.

"There she is!" Talo hollered.

The bokoblin grunted and its eyes snapped toward the newcomers. Talo yelped in fright, dropped the lantern and threw himself behind the young man. Link had been watching for such an accident, and he made a grab for the lantern, which he tucked onto his belt, and then he advanced upon his enemy. The blue skin of the bokoblin was not so tough as to repel a simple wooden blade and it too fell before Link much as the two outside the temple had.

"I-is it gone?" Talo queried tremulously, breathlessly, hardly daring peek out between his fingers.

"Yes," Link sighed, his own breaths coming quickly as he moved toward the cage that held the monkey.

As soon as he freed her, the monkey jumped up a couple of times and began darting in the opposite direction that they'd come. She stopped and, turning back to the humans, she beckoned to them.

Having recovered from his fright, Talo was again at Link's side. However, before he could state the obvious about their animal friend, something popped up from Link's shadow. Whatever this new being was, on its head it had a strange object with prongs sticking out at the top, and a small, rather oddly proportioned body cloaked entirely in shadows.

The being spoke in a voice that sounded distinctly feminine, laced with a none-too-subtle hint of distain. "That's the monkey that stole your lantern! Looks like she's beckoning to you… Aren't you popular!" After so helpfully enlightening Link, she chortled and disappeared back into his shadow. She hadn't even noticed Talo.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" bellowed Talo with such volume that Link flinched, even though he was quite used to the boy and his complete lack of an indoor voice.

The young man rubbed his ears. "Quit yelling, will you? My ears are stilling ringing."

Talo proceeded, hardly as if he'd heard a word. "What was that?! Where'd she come from? Why was she in your shadow? What is she? Huh, Link? Tell me!"

"I don't know. I don't know!" Link returned, shaking his head.

His brows were furrowed again, and his mouth was creased in a firm line. While the shadowy being had not seemed entirely friendly, she had also not evinced herself to be a threat. Even so, the hairs on the back of his neck were trying to hide under each other, and he had the peculiar feeling that he wasn't where he was supposed to be. He peered down at his shadow as if that would summon the strange shadowy being. The lighting was certainly dim, but he couldn't attribute what they'd seen to a simplistic lack of light. Not when they'd both seen and heard the shadow girl.

Talo was staring down at Link's shadow and then at his own, as if he felt left out because his was nothing more, nothing less. Then, before he could begin with his incessant questions again, they both saw a pair of furry feet hop near them. Talo shrieked and jumped back, expecting the worst. Link's own heart gave a little jump, for he too had forgotten about the monkey, but he remained standing exactly where he was.

"All right," he said, inhaling quickly. "Let's find out what she wants."

"Yeah!" Talo cheered, throwing first one fist and then the other into the air.

Then he ran after the monkey, who always scuttled just out of his reach when the boy was about to touch her. Link jogged along behind, his sword in hand and his lantern jangling as it hung from his belt. He kept a keen eye on their surroundings, noticing how the light around them was slowly getting brighter as the cavernous area they were in seemed to be opening up.

Eventually, they emerged in a large room which was remarkably well-lit by several torches. The ceiling, which Link could see when he tilted his head upwards, consisted of wood and soil. The room itself housed what looked like some halfway decent plant life and a couple of sets of rickety and possibly somewhat rotten stairs that led to big, hollowed-out knotholes. Link was suspicious of some of the plants he could see, suspecting they might be more of the vicious deku babas he had encountered in the forest. His attention was quickly arrested by a more immediate danger, however.

"Is that a giant skull?" Talo questioned, pointing at something that hung on silken threads from the ceiling. His eyes were wide, and a grin spread over his face like he'd just discovered something amazing.

Tensing, Link took a split-second look, even as the "skull" dropped from its hanging thread and fell. It was momentarily obscured by a thin veil of dust that flew up when it hit the ground, but Link had already made a good guess as to what it was.

"Get back, Talo!" he said in low voice, pushing the boy with his free right hand.

"But why?" he whined, thrusting out his lip and his jaw.

"It's a spider!" Link hissed, giving Talo another shove, this time rougher to show that he meant it.

"A…spider?" the boy repeated slowly, frowning. "It's not. It's a— AHHHHH!"

His shrill shriek could have just as easily come from the throat of a girl, a fact which would later come back to haunt him. At the moment, however, that was the furthest thing from his mind as he clung to Link's arm. The spider, complete with eight hairy legs and a maw that seemed positively ginormous to the boy, had skittered from the fading cloud of dust and was fast approaching them.

"Let go!" Link shook off Talo's clinging grip and shoved the boy forcibly away. "Stay back!"

His own heart pounding a rhythm in his head, in every finger and toe and everywhere in between, he drew nearer the skulltula and lashed at it with his wooden sword. Each of his blows landed on the thick, armor-like carapace of the arachnid. He realized that he was just going to tire himself out if he continued that way, and then the great spider would have a feast of both him and his young companion. His irrational fear made him want to keep whacking away until his weapon might break, but something else in his head was reminding him of the advice Rusl had given him in his many sword lessons.

"Sometimes you have to wait for your opponent to leave an opening for you to attack."

He ceased striking the steely carapace and waited, his hand trembling and his breath coming in quick little spurts. The skulltula lifted its two forelegs toward him and raised its horrible maw. In that moment it also exposed some of its soft underbelly. Link drove his wooden weapon as deeply as he could into the weak area. The skulltula lurched forward and Link backed away from it, holding the sword he'd withdrawn from the overgrown arachnid.

"Whoa, that was scary," Talo admitted, looking up as the creature withered and twitched a few last times. He came up behind the young man. "Boy, you're pretty good at that! That spider hadn't a chance!"

Link shrugged as he cleaned his weapon as best he could, though he knew some of the grime would soak into the wood. He saw no such fascination for killing things, however evil or horrific they were.

The monkey motioned to them again, and they followed, going forward until they reached an area flooded with the light of day. They blinked rapidly as their eyes adjusted. Before them was a great gorge that spanned from the giant tree they'd just come from to another, slightly smaller tree. Spanning that rather frightening gap was a narrow bridge that Link could not be sure was entirely safe. As he and Talo neared it, the monkey scampered onto it, obviously anxious that she should reach the other side.

The boy was just testing the sturdiness of the bridge by placing a bare foot on its worn boards, when Link saw something that made him ill at ease. He put a hand on his companion's shoulder and pulled him back. Talo resisted, trying to shake off his hold; Link shook him pointed to a white baboon that had emerged from an opening on the tree across from them. The baboon held something in its hand, which he raised and threw in the direction of the bridge. Instinctively, Link ducked and pulled the boy down with him.

The object the baboon threw passed in an arc, snapping several of the supporting ropes to the bridge, sending most of it into the gorge below. The baboon caught his boomerang, sassed the humans who had no way of getting to him, and disappeared again. Talo threw himself on the ground at the edge, staring down into the gorge. Tears were in his eyes.

"She's gone!" he wailed. "The monkey's gone!"

Link was already peering down into the yawning blackness, but a small sound caught his attention. He looked up and a smile crept over his face. "No, she's safe enough," he said, nudging the boy.

Talo looked up in the midst of a pitiful sob. As soon as he saw what Link did, he jumped to his feet and gave several cheers. The monkey was still holding onto the ropes which had not been severed by the boomerang. Already she was swinging herself hand over hand toward them. As soon as she was safely on the ground again, she gave a little wheeze of relief and scampered to the little hollow whence they'd come.

Talo was still exultant. "Yeah! That old baboon can't keep her down! Good old monkey!"

"I guess we can see what she wants now," Link said, considering that the day wasn't yet showing signs of fading.

However, before they were more than a few steps, the shadowy girl from before again leapt from Link's shadow and floated in the air before him. "What's going on here? Has there been a monkey fight?!" Her tone was marked with no little amount of irritation. "I don't know what's going on, so you'd better go back and follow her." Then she once again made herself a part of the young man's shadow.

"AAAHH!" Talo screamed. "It's her again! What is she, Link?!"

"I don't know," he replied shortly. "Come on, let's just follow the monkey."

The monkey led them through dark tree trunks in which Link lit his lantern again, and they were thankfully hampered by nothing worse than a couple of keese. They ended up in another room which needed no torches for its light, as there was no ceiling. Instead, the light of day was filtered and trickled through layer upon layer of tree boughs. Also in the room was a cage, containing a monkey just slightly smaller than the one with the flower on her head. Two bokoblins were taunting the imprisoned animal, poking their clubs through the bars and screeching.

"Stop it, you stupid things!" cried Talo, safely peeking out from behind his companion.

The heads of the blue monsters snapped up as they locked their sights on the two humans. Letting loose shrieks that were quite grating to the ears that heard, the bokoblins abandoned their game and rushed toward the intruders. Talo shrank back, feeling that he had been a too brash, as usual. He had nothing to fear, however, for Link beat them soundly and sent them away shrieking, with bruises and cuts, and without their clubs. Then he and Talo freed the shaking monkey in the cage.

The monkeys jumped up a couple of time in celebration and then, gesturing to the two humans, ran off in another direction. Link and Talo made all haste to follow, for by now they were at the mercy of the monkeys and by themselves would have had a frightful time in navigating their way out of the tree. Talo wanted to hold the lantern again, but this time Link refused.

They encountered an insect-like creature with four spindly legs and a rather bulbous looking body. Talo hollered at the sight of it, thinking it was another spider, but Link shushed him, informing him it looked nothing like one of those huge skulltulas or one of the much smaller variety they'd just seen crawling over some vines. When he attacked this creature, it swelled up, started to glow red, and made a sizzling sound like a pot of badly burning stew. His every instinct told him to put distance between himself and the fizzing bomb, so he picked it up and threw it as hard as he could. It exploded, breaking up a formation of rocks just a couple of feet away from where it landed.

"Whoa, that was awesome!" Talo said.

He then proceeded to poke into the little alcove that the explosion had uncovered. All it held were a few extremely dusty clay pots. However, his interest was piqued when one of the pots wiggled a bit. He leaned near, trying to see what was inside. Then he picked it up and dashed it to the ground. From the remains of the vessel popped a creature more peculiar than any they'd yet seen. It had a small body covered in the gold plumage of the finest of birds, a rather longish neck and a bald head shaped somewhat like a human's.

"ACK!" Talo yelped, scuttling backward.

Link came nearer for a more careful examination of that new finding and the boy hid behind him. He bent down, peering at the half-bird-like creature and it craned its neck to look up at him.

"Ooh, thank you!" it said. "I got myself in there and couldn't get out."

Starting in surprise, Link's mouth hung open a bit. Meanwhile, Talo could have fit both his feet into the gap his mouth made.

The bird-like creature continued, "My name is Ooccoo. In return for the favor you've done me, I'll go with you. If you need to leave this place, I can warp you right out, no trouble at all!"

"Oh, um… thank you," Link spluttered, unsure just how he should talk to this new acquaintance.

Ooccoo flapped her wings, giving herself enough lift that she could flutter to Link's shoulder. "I'll just settle here if you don't mind," she said. "I won't be any bother to you. Just let me know if you need to leave."

Whatever was holding back Talo's tongue loosed itself and from him poured a barrage of queries, such as, "What are you?!" "Why were you hiding in that pot?!" "Are you a bird?!"

Ooccoo replied simply, "I am Ooccoo. I am an Oocca. I am searching for something important and I've not yet found it."

"What's that? Is it like a cucco?" the boy persisted.

Link, however, put an abrupt end to his questions. "Let's go, Talo," he said, pointing to the two monkeys who still wanted them to follow.

They found and rescued two more of the monkeys' friends. Link had to dispatch another one of the large skulltulas and a great, overgrown, carnivorous plant that tried to snap up both him and Talo when the boy tried to venture too close. The four monkeys, reunited, joined hands and danced around the two humans, dancing a circle of celebration around them. Talo jumped up and down too, trying to imitate their movements. Then monkeys broke apart and ceased their happy sounds. With serious gestures they motioned to the humans.

"What do they want now?" Talo questioned.

With the monkeys in the lead again, they went once more to the little spot on the edge of the great tree, looking across the chasm to the other, smaller tree. Then the monkeys jumped up and swung across the rope left from the broken bridge. In a matter of seconds they were hanging by their feet, clapping their hands and looking back at the humans.

"Ah, what clever animals!" Link exclaimed. "They've made a bridge for us to get across!"

Talo gulped, his eyes glued to the bottomlessness below them. "Um, Link… I don't feel so good…"

"Do you want to stay here?" the young man asked. "I'll go to the other side myself, see what's there and come back."

"No, no! I'll go!" Talo cried, holding onto Link's arm. "Don't leave without me!"

"Okay, I'll go first and you follow. Just let the monkeys swing you."

With one eye closed, the boy watched as his companion swung across the gap with admirable dexterity. Then, when Link called across for him to jump, he couldn't do it. After some shouting back and forth and whimpering on Talo's part, the young man came swinging back to the other side. Talo still didn't want to be left there, but he was too petrified to willingly put himself over the chasm. Link solved the problem by picking him up and handing him to the monkeys, who kept a firm grip on the madly squirming boy until he was safely across.

Panting, Talo fell to his knees on the ground at the other side and crawled further from the edge. Seconds later Link landed next to him. He put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I'm sorry I had to do that, Talo. You wouldn't move on your own."

The boy swiped at some of the frantic tears that had fallen in his terror. "You're mean!" he cried and swiped at Link's lingering hand.

The monkeys all landed on that side of the chasm, came up behind Talo and gave him comforting little pats on the back and shoulders until he had calmed down. He knew he'd been a sissy for being so afraid to be left alone and to cross the gorge and he hated that he'd exhibited his fear before the young man whom he and all the village children idolized. The fear had been so thick in his stomach that he'd nearly thrown up.

The monkeys left Talo and gathered together at the entrance into the large tree at which edge they stood. They kept their distance from the hole in the tree, as if they were afraid to go further. Link and a reluctant, still somewhat upset Talo ventured inside. The short tunnel was dark and so Link lit his lantern while his companion complained and whined about the darkness, that he wanted to go home, and that he was hungry, but that was mostly to cover his unspoken and still very much alive fear.

They emerged in a room that had a circle of totem poles near its center. Link extinguished his lantern, as there was a large-sized hole in the ceiling, letting in floods of daylight. Then they heard a familiar, mocking sort of shriek as the white baboon from before leaped to the top of the center pole. The animal taunted them and threw its boomerang to cut the vines that held some baba serpents at the ceiling.

While Talo's knees shook so bad that he could barely stand, Link took a trembling breath of his own. His heart pumping faster, he rushed forward to deal with the baba serpents. Leaves, branches and other debris littered the somewhat mossy bark floor. Snatching up a couple of the longest, sturdiest sticks he could find, he thrust them into the gaping mouths of the babas. The carnivorous plants flopped uselessly on the ground while they tried unsuccessfully to dislodge the branches.

"L-L-LOOK OUT!" Talo blubbered.

Link jerked his eyes and attention just in time to see the baboon's weapon being hurled at him. He ducked as the boomerang sliced the air where his head had been a split second before. Talo threw himself on the ground, too, though he was well out of range.

With their tongues hanging out of their mouths, the baba serpents, though unable to attack, slithered closer to the boy, making him scramble away. Meanwhile, Link homed in on the chuckling baboon who seemed to delight in causing such mayhem. The next time the animal threw its boomerang, Link was ready. He dodged the projectile and threw the full force of his weight against the totem pole on which the baboon was perched. On its return arc, the boomerang struck the suddenly jolted baboon and it tumbled from the pole, giving Link a chance to spank it.

Squawking with rage and pain, the animal struck back at Link, knocking him aside long enough so that it could leap to the totem again. The young man spared a lightning glance at Talo, who had climbed up to a large bough that stuck out of the wall, where he was out of reach of the laughingly ineffective baba serpents.

Feeling easier that his companion was safe, Link dedicated himself to knocking some sense into the baboon. He spanked it twice more, the last of which was enough to send the animal careening away. It spread-eagled into the pole from which it had just tumbled, the force of which snapped back the baboon's head and dislodged a large insect which had been clamped to its skull. The insect landed on its back and wriggled, trying to right itself, but Link jumped forward and stomped on it.

Warily, he turned his attention back to the baboon, for whom he had begun to feel a little bad for treating so harshly, since it was obvious that the animal had been under an evil influence. The baboon slowly recovered, rubbing its head and its rear. Then it stiffened, sensing that someone was behind it. Upon whirling and spotting Link, it gave a disturbed cry and leapt up a few branches until it could swing through the hole in the roof. The young man took a deep breath, the first since before the fight had started, and uncurled the fingers of his right hand.

There was still one thing he had to take care of, he realized, and he turned toward Talo and the baba serpents. A couple of jabs into vital areas put an end to the carnivorous plant life. Link wiped the purple gunk from his wooden sword and then reached up to help his companion from his perch, for it had been much easier for Talo to climb up there than it was for him to get down. Then he saw that Ooccoo had found a roosting place next to the boy; he hadn't even noticed when she left his shoulder.

"Whoa! That was awesome!" Talo crowed. "You really taught that monkey a lesson! You're so awesome, Link!"

The young man managed a small smile as he put his sword on his back again. "He needed a lesson, didn't he?"

"Yeah!"

"I need to get you back home now. Come on, Talo."

"Awww! But Link—!"

Ooccoo flapped her wings, alighting once more on Link's shoulder. "Traveler, you shouldn't leave that fine boomerang here."

"Huh?" the young man said, turning. "Oh…"

His eyes alighted on the item in question where it lay upon the leaves and other debris. While it had been surrounded by a dark aura when the baboon wielded it, it now looked as harmless as the twigs around it. He reached down to pick it up, but when his fingers were mere inches away the boomerang came to life, swirling in a self-contained whirlwind. From it came a silvery voice that sounded like the chattering of leaves.

"I am the Fairy of Winds. Thanks to you I have my true power back. Take this boomerang and it will aid you in unforeseen ways."

The boomerang whirled in a windy arc, returning to Link, whereupon he reached out and caught it. He turned it around in his hands, testing it weight. Talo ran up to him, examining the new item with considerable awe. Link threw the boomerang, watched as it tore up leaves, moss, grass and twigs in its path, and he caught it neatly again.

"That is so cool! Can I try it?"

"No," Link replied curtly, and he tucked his acquisition into his pouch. "We're getting out of here."

He moved one step and it was as if stepping on his shadow summoned something from it. He recoiled slightly, still a bit keyed up from the fight, but it was only that same strange girl with the one glowing eye who seemed to have a penchant for stealing his shadow.

"Those monkeys should be satisfied now," she declared. "Now, let's keep searching this place!"

Talo hollered and pointed one stubby finger at her. "You again! Why do you keep popping up?!"

For the first time she seemed to take notice of a person besides Link. However, she just narrowed her one eye in Talo's direction, and then descended with Link's shadow to the ground.

"Come on," the young man said, bundling his companion out of the room.

However, when they reached the outermost part of the tree, the monkeys who had helped them cross the gorge where no longer waiting for them. The rope from the bridge was still there, blowing gently in a breeze that found its way there, but crossing it by themselves seemed a frightening prospect even to Link.

"Hey, look over here!" Talo called, gesturing and pointing to a path that led around the side of the tree.

"Good work, Talo," the young man said, clapping him on the back.

The path took them around the curve of the tree and across a natural bridge. They came to a little outcropping where they saw, of all things, another monkey. This one was in a cage that dangled from some overhead boughs by a length of spider silk. Link withdrew his boomerang, aimed and tossed it; the resulting whirlwind broke the cage loose. Both monkey and cage fell a few feet, whereupon the latter shattered and the former jumped free.

"You have to let me try that thing!" shouted the boy, making a grab for the boomerang in Link's hand.

"No, you can't."

And before Talo could make another move, between them popped the shadowy girl.

"Well, I guess you haven't freed all the monkeys after all," she said. "Well, you'd better save the rest of them and see what you can get for it."

Talo peered around her and stared at the young man. "See, Link! We can't leave yet! We have more monkeys to save!"

The shadowy girl scrunched her eye and frowned at Talo. Turning back to Link, she said, "Doesn't that kid get on your nerves? I'd throw him down that chasm to be rid of him if I were you!" Then she was gone.

"Sometimes… Sometimes," he muttered under his breath.

"Come on, Link, let's do what she said! Let's go find the rest of those monkeys!" Talo begged, tugging on his arm. The boy's motives in so doing might have been divided, however, as he was also trying to pry the boomerang out of Link's fingers.

The young man withdrew his arm and the weapon from Talo's reach. He tucked the boomerang into his pouch again. "No, I'm taking you home. Now if only we can find out way out of here…"

"But I don't want to go now!" the boy stormed. "I want to help the monkeys!" However, his companion paid no attention to his tantrum.

Ooccoo fluttered from Link's shoulder, landing on the ground before him. "You say you need to leave? Well, leave it to me! I can warp you out of here."

Then, in the blink of an eye there was a second Oocca floating next to her, except this one hadn't yet grown into a bird-like body like that which his mother had. Instead, his little wings were attached to the base of his head, whereby he easily kept himself afloat. His mother introduced him as Ooccoo Jr.

"WHOA! Another flying cucco…thingy!"

Link put his hand over the boy's mouth. Fixing his eyes on Ooccoo, he practically begged her, "Yes, we would like to leave, please!"

"All right then. I'll be waiting here for you!" the kind creature said.

The young Oocca swirled around both humans. Their surroundings faded, and they suddenly found themselves outside the great tree. Turning around, Link noted that the rubble that had blocked the entrance to the forest temple was still there. That was a good thing, else Talo might run right back in there! He grabbed the back of the boy's shirt before he could think up any more mischief.

"Why'd you do that, Link?! I wanted to save the other monkeys!"

Suppressing an exasperated sigh, Link shook Talo a bit. "Be quiet and come along quietly. We're going back to the village whether you like it or not."

But Talo wriggled all the more, so much that his shirt was in danger of ripping. "I don't wanna to go home yet! I don't wanna!"

"For the last time, be quiet!" Link shouted, in one of the very rare moments when his ire was truly aroused. "Or I'll tell the others that you scream like a little girl!"

Talo, for once, was silent.

**Author's Note:**

> Recently I've been playing a little bit of Twilight Princess and of course I can't play it normally anymore because that is simply too tame. So course I was doing some sequence breaking, which came to be my inspiration for this story.
> 
> Early Forest Temple is a sequence break you can pull off in the game, one which I've performed a number of times for my further amusement. You do it anytime after the start of the game and before you rescue Talo. You can complete all of the Forest Temple if you so desire. However, fighting the boss reverts Faron Woods to a different state and Talo is gone. Since you cannot rescue him, you'll be unable to proceed normally with the game and, if you saved after fighting the boss, you'll be stuck with an uncompletable file. The real fun of doing early Forest Temple is that you can pick up the boomerang, and especially Ooccoo, that latter of which can lead to some other shenanigans. Midna pops up at her scripted spots, even though she shouldn't be there story-wise.
> 
> Though this story is definitely non-canonical because of sequence breaking, I attempted to add a bit of realism. I had Link rescue Talo first, as it would seem too mean to leave Talo stuck in a cage while Link sauntered off to explore the temple. (Maybe he should have done it anyway...?) I also got rid of the doors in the temple, because they seemed unnecessary. In writing this story I also thought up a couple of ideas to use in my TP novelization...ideas which are going to be fun to implement. This one is just a silly sequence-breaking tale, but if this isn't your thing you can always check out my other works. 
> 
> For the twelfth anniversary of Twilight Princess!


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